"Always remember the difference between economic power and political power: You can refuse to hire someone's services or buy his products in the private sector and go somewhere else instead. In the public sector, though, if you refuse to accept a politician's or bureaucrat's product or services you go to jail. Ultimately, after all, all regulations are observed and all taxes are paid at gunpoint. I believe those few who can't even see that have been short-sighted sheep...." ~ Rick Gaber

Original article"Police in the Democrat haven of Maryland shot and killed a man in his home on Monday while serving a "protective order" under a new law which allows them to seize people's guns without due process."

Original article"The independence engendered by the disciplined study of logic is no longer a desired quality in students. The classroom, at best, has taken on the appearance of a fact-memorization factory; and we should express grave doubts about the relevance and truth of many of those facts. A society filled with people who float in the drift of non-logic is a society that declines."

Original article"Today (Nov. 9) I heard a black historian on NPR say that the 'civil war' was fought in order to establish a framework for human rights. He also said that black civil rights achieved by the war were overturned by the rollback of Reconstruction, put back in place by the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and was now being overturned again by Trump’s response to the caravan from Honduras."

Original article"Those of us of a certain age may remember that Veterans Day used to be called Armistice Day – the day the guns fell silent in war-torn Europe at the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. The Great War, the Global War that we now call World War I, had reached a ceasefire. In the months and years that followed, the victorious allies would rearrange the boundaries of much of the globe, uprooting peoples and nations in a fragile peace that set the stage for...

Original article"As we reported Saturday, Broward County Supervisor of Elections, Brenda Snipes, missed a court ordered 7PM Friday deadline to allow for the immediate inspection of mysteriously found ballots. The court was asked to intervene in a tight race for US Senate between Democratic incumbent Sen. Bill Nelson and Republican Gov. Rick Scott, after tens of thousands of ballots mysteriously appeared in Broward County, and another 15,000 in Palm Beach....Workers were filmed by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-...

Original article"Let’s say you and some of your friends decide to gather your young children together a couple of days a week for a few hours of free play. Maybe you switch off who leads the gaggle of kids each week, allowing for some shared free time and flexibility. Sounds like a great arrangement for all, right? Your kids get to play freely with their friends, and you get some occasional free babysitting. According to government officials in Washington, DC, arrangements like this are...

Original article"Government has long been characterized as inept. It’s easy to forget that sometimes it can be downright cruel. The latest example comes from Missouri, where the Kansas City Health Department is under fire after employees bleached food intended for the homeless because the people supplying it did not have the proper permit."

Original article"If the original report was never written by these hard working journalists this man might have been held much longer than a year or sent to a part of the world where he might be subject to violence. As the independent and alternative American media is currently under attack it’s never been more important to stand up and support those who fight to bring truth to light."

Original article"Grassley had had his requests to declassify the documents ignored repeatedly throughout the last two years of the Obama administration. He decided to try again because all of the Obama people at the CIA and DNI are gone now. This time, his request was approved. So what was the information that was finally declassified? It was written confirmation that John Brennan ordered CIA hackers to intercept the emails of all potential or possible intelligence community whistleblowers who may...

Original article"Over the years, I tried to perfect my methods of smoking deer and bear meat. I hope my guide will provide you with some good tips. I can honestly say that I’ve tried this time-honored cooking method with every type of meat. In fact, numerous meats can be smoked with outstanding results. From venison loins to rainbow trout or wild turkey, I’ve tried them all. If you desire to take up meat smoking, but you don’t know how to or where to begin, let’s start with...

Original article"When any kind of society or civilization becomes unraveled, usually the nation’s cash loses its value within days at the most. We’re going to cover a few general categories of items to keep for barter (meaning 'regular' or frequent trade), citing individual examples within each category."

Original article"Homestead pets and livestock can become ill or injured at the most inconvenient times. Even before an SHTF scenario, you might not be able to get a vet to come save an animal in time. Learning how to handle minor or even life-threatening livestock emergencies could save not only your meat, egg, and milk producers, but the lives of your family who depend on them, as well."

Original article"In a long-lived emergency, our food stores can quickly be depleted. If this occurs, we must rely on our knowledge of native food sources growing wild in our area. One such wild edible is found in great abundance in many parts of the country and is a food source that is long forgotten. We are talking about the acorn."

Column by Alex R. Knight III.
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A very short piece by Robert Higgs, recently published on Everything Voluntary, caught my attention in a big way, and you can read it here. The key sentence therein that caught my eye was this: “Except for a tiny minority, avowals of the love of liberty are little more than hot air. Given a choice, people choose something else.”
To...

Column by Alex R. Knight III.
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It's an all-too typical condition among those calling themselves Government: Do as I say, not as I do. Most members of the public seem to be so conditioned to the notion of it that they tolerate it with almost total obliviousness. And the government apologists are even more dismissive of such callous hypocrisy. They seem to feel, at least...

Column by Paul Hein.
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Back in the Christian era, one sometimes encountered the phrase “fear of the Lord.” The fear referred to was not so much a fear of punishment at the hands of powerful but capricious and spiteful gods, but rather a sense of awe and respect towards someone you loved, not feared. It was the “fear” that you might feel for neglecting a...

Column by Alex R. Knight III.
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Much has been made in the press recently about former Texas Governor turned Trump's Energy Secretary Rick Perry's economic statement: "Here's a little economics lesson: supply and demand. You put the supply out there and the demand will follow.”
To be sure, at first assessment, this statement seems counter-intuitively inverted...

Column by Paul Hein.
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The journey you are about to undertake requires you to travel directly South. Would a compass be helpful? Today you would use a GPS device, but its directions would be based upon some sort of internal compass. There is one situation, however, admittedly far-fetched, that would make a compass unnecessary. If you were to begin your journey from the North Pole--...

Column by Paul Hein.
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It comes as no surprise that “mater,” (Latin for mother) forms the root for “MATERnal.” But it also forms the root for “MATERial.” That’s significant, I think, suggesting that the woman’s world is the world of stuff, of things. Men, on the other hand, live in a land of ideas, abstractions, and dreams. How nicely...

Column by Mark Davis.
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“The true test of civilization is not the census, nor the size of the cities, nor the crops – no, but the kind of man the country turns out.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
The primary impression I bring back from Japan is respect, mixed with more than a little wonder and a shot of nostalgia. It is a joy to see customer service, cleanliness,...

Column by Paul Hein.
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President Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Accord has been met with the predictable gasps of horror and warnings of impending catastrophe from the statists. Global warming, after all, (or as it is now termed, “climate change”) is something which you simply DO NOT question. Like JFK’s assassination by a “lone...

Column by Paul Hein.
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Income tax day usually falls around Easter, but while many people do not celebrate Easter, nearly all venerate the Internal Revenue Code on April 15. It is a cause for wonderment, since the income tax, being robbery (or theft) ought to rouse massive civil disobedience, rather than slavish adherence.
Of course, in saying that, I run the risk of being placed...

Column by Glen Allport.
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The Non-Aggression Principle is Incomplete Without the Kindness Imperative
– 1 –
The Foundations of Civil Society
Kindness and non-aggression are the bedrock principles of civil society and of decent individual behavior: they are what allow and encourage every positive social form and institution. At this level, everything else is...

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November 2, 2009
I’m halfway through a reflective book written by an old curmudgeon. Part patriot, part historian, all gadfly, Gore Vidal wrote Imperial America: Reflections on the United States of Amnesia in 2004, just before the upcoming national elections. Almost a time capsule coupled with dire prophecy, the book is a sober,...

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With Election Day looming, Americans are constantly being reminded about the importance of voting. Politicians, news media, celebrities, and talk show hosts alike wax poetic about this hallowed institution we call democracy and how crucial it is for voters to cast their ballot.
Rock the Vote! Vote for Change! ...

Whenever I hear 'they hate us because of our freedom' or "because they hate our way of life" or some other such drivel, I don't know whether to laugh or cry. If real people didn't suffer the consequences of it, such ignorance would be amusing. But another annoying thing about statements like these is that they perpetuate the myth that we live in a land of freedom. The sad fact is, we are not...

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On May 30, 1962, a modern musical masterpiece premiered in England ’s newest cathedral, built next to the remains of the cathedral that was destroyed when the Nazis bombed Coventry . Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem" combines two choirs, two orchestras, three vocal soloists, and the Latin religious funeral text with...

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". . . a power too great and terrible to imagine."
The Lord of the Rings trilogy was released on Blu-Ray in April, which reminded me that I hadn't seen the first installment, The Fellowship of the Ring, since its theatrical release in 2001. While watching the film again I was struck anew with its abolitionist message – a message...

If a real Commission of Inquiry had been set up (instead of the pathetic excuse for a commission), here are some of the questions it should have addressed:
1. What is the real aim of the Gaza Strip blockade?
2. If the aim is to prevent the flow of arms into the Strip, why are only 100 products allowed in (as compared to the more than 12 thousand products in an average Israeli...

By Paul Hein.
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The two terms have always confused me. In general, public means the people considered as a whole, the populace, the citizenry, etc. Private, on the other hand, refers to particular individuals. So public ownership means ownership by everyone, which is a bewildering concept, to say the least. Private ownership, on the other hand, is...

By Glen Allport.
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The Blessings of True Regulation in a Civil Society
Many things should be regulated – for health and safety, for protection against fraud, and for other reasons.
Regulation is a normal function of civil society. We don't want to get electrocuted when we touch a toaster or vacuum cleaner, for example, and the makers of...

By Patrick Coleman.
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The media controversy concerning the recent leak of over 91,000 military reports, termed the “Afghan war diary,” by Wikileaks.org has focused very much around the supposed moral culpability of Wikileaks as an organization, its founder, Julian Assange, as well as the accused leaker, Bradley Manning, who now faces 52 years in prison for...

Column by D. Saul Weiner.
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There are a lot of heated exchanges going on right now in social media related to vaccination. Many people have become convinced that parents who do not vaccinate are jeopardizing the health of others and that vaccines for children should be mandated. Politicians who are expected to run for president in 2016 are starting to weigh in on the topic and some...

Column by Glen Allport.
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Introduction for this 2013 Edition
As I write this – October 28, 2013, more than four years after the column below was posted (here with minor edits; see the original at this link if you wish) – NBC News is reporting that the Obama administration “knew millions could not keep their health insurance" under Obamacare, and has known...

Column by Alex R. Knight III.
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Perhaps never before have I encountered a proposal within Liberty Movement circles that has generated more controversy faster and further than Adam Kokesh’s planned July 4th march on Washington, District of Criminals, in which he states that himself and the other participants “will march with rifles loaded & slung across our backs to...

Column by Faisal Moghul.
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Almost 30 years ago, cultural critic Neil Postman argued in Amusing Ourselves to Death that television’s gradual replacement of the printing press has created a dumbed-down culture driven by mindless entertainment. In this context, Postman claimed that Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World correctly foresaw our dystopian future, as opposed to George...

Column by Glen Allport.
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Perhaps I should say this paradigm shift is resuming. The healthier incoming paradigm is a modern, more accurate, better-supported, and better-understood version of one that began the shift towards a free, healthy, and prosperous world more than three centuries ago and which informed the creation of the United States itself: Classical Liberalism.
- 1...

Column by Glen Allport.
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Part 3 of "Could the Non-Aggression Principle Stop the Sixth Great Extinction?"
Part One of this series discussed the Non-Aggression principle, calling it "the libertarian half of the Golden Rule" (compassion being the other half) and describing the function of aggression in creating not only tyranny and war but also...

Column by Glen Allport.
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Question: are you more terrified by Muslim extremists, by "domestic terrorists" – or by your own government? Which group is more likely to assault you? To kill you? To unjustly imprison and even torture you?
The U.S. federal government has ALREADY:
Built and is staffing a huge gulag of concentration camps [...

Column by JGVibes.
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Although the common perception of human nature is very negative, the truth is that most people who aren’t mentally ill have a very difficult time committing acts of violence. Usually it takes a sizeable payment and a fair amount of manipulation to convince someone to act violently, and even then a tremendous amount of guilt typically...

Column by Glen Allport.
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Plundering Wealth vs Producing Wealth
In recent decades, the rich have gathered an increasing share of the total wealth in the United States. As this wealth disparity grows and especially as large numbers of the formerly middle class fall into poverty and even into homelessness, this flow of wealth from main street (from anyone not...

Column by Glen Allport.
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This is Part 2 of a response to a column by Wesley Messamore. Last week's Part One of this column discussed the following:
· Minarchy: Lighting a Match to the Fuse of Tyranny
· Anarchy: By Itself, Yang without Yin
· The Missing Key...

By Jim Davies.
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Is the state a fiction, a myth? How in either case does it compare to a business company, also sometimes called a fictional entity? Or to a religion?
I'm using "state" not so much to mean a particular political organization like the State of New Hampshire, but more in the sense used by Oppenheimer in The State, or by Bastiat in his...

By B.R. Merrick
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In spite of my opposition to The War on Certain Kinds of Drugs, I wish to inaugurate a new war against another one. I have good reasons for doing so. This drug is cheap. It is everywhere. It is insidious. Once it is in your bloodstream, it is nearly impossible to extricate. It becomes infused with the cells of your body...

By Paul Bonneau.
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The tenacity of the meme, that government is here to help us and protect us, is hard to understand. All evidence throughout history points in the opposite direction--that government is here to prey on us, and that if there is anything we need protection from, it is our own governments. Why do people cling to this harmful meme?
A...

Column by tzo.
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Voluntaryists are by definition in favor of the elimination of the State. This is all well and good, but who will eliminate it, and by what method? It makes sense that the Voluntaryist himself must actively participate in the process, as those who are not with him are against him and are resistant to the idea of a Stateless society. But by what...

By Mark Davis
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The myth of public goods is based on the belief that there are special things that everybody needs, but nobody will pay for. The priests perpetuating this myth include self-interested professors who spend a lifetime informing young, bright-eyed students about the magical qualities of these special goods that can only be provided by popular...

By B.R. Merrick
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Like most good anarchists, I read Antiwar.com on a regular basis. They are to be commended for the outstanding work they do, and for the fact that they do it with such consistency. Recently, James Bovard posted an entry in the blog concerning the Obama Administration's refusal to permit discovery in the case of Maher Arar, a man who was...

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After reading Anna Morgenstern’s Memorial Day: Remembering the Dead, I was struck by a common (though understandable) error that even the most ardent anarchists and voluntaryists make. Though Anna’s description and analysis of war gangsterism is dead on accurate, I find her views on the (misnamed) Civil War and WWII surprisingly statist.
I...